In the days leading up to U.S. President Donald Trump's April 12, 2026, attack on Pope Leo XIV — whom he called "weak on crime and terrible for foreign policy" — a rumor circulated online that Pentagon officials had threatened the Catholic Church during a tense meeting with a top Vatican diplomat several months prior. During the January meeting, Pentagon officials allegedly said the U.S. has the "military power to do whatever it wants" and that the "Church had better take its side."
Users across multiple (archived) platforms repeated the claim that Pentagon officials threatened the Vatican during the meeting, garnering millions of views and reactions.
The rumor first emerged following Pope Leo XIV's remarks during the Holy Week of Easter, including that God "does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war," which many people interpreted as a critique of the Trump administration and the ongoing U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. Following Trump's April 12 post, Snopes readers showed renewed interest in whether there was proof Pentagon officials threatened the Vatican during the reported meeting.
The claim that Defense officials at the meeting, including Elbridge Colby, the undersecretary for policy, threatened the Holy See's then-ambassador to the U.S., Cardinal Christophe Pierre, stemmed from an April 6 article published by New York media outlet The Free Press. CBS News head Bari Weiss founded the company, which has been widely described as conservative and pro-Israel, in 2021.
The DOD confirmed in a statement that the meeting took place, but disputed the claims the Free Press article made about the Pentagon's alleged threats of military power. Those claims remain unproven, as of this writing. They were based on the reported testimony of anonymous Vatican and U.S. officials, which Snopes cannot independently confirm.
Because Snopes doesn't rely on unattributed or anonymous claims as proof, we have left this claim unrated.
The Free Press asserted that the relationship between the Vatican and the U.S. was deteriorating, something fueled by the pope's statements. Reporter Mattia Ferraresi wrote:
President Donald Trump has not directly addressed the Pope's comments, but behind closed doors, tensions have been building for months—culminating in January, when senior U.S. defense officials summoned a top Vatican diplomat to the Pentagon. What happened inside that room set the tone for everything that followed.
Anonymous Vatican officials briefed on the meeting reportedly described it as a "bitter lecture warning that the United States has the military power to do whatever it wants — and that the Church had better take its side." The Free Press report went on to say that during the meeting, "one U.S. official went so far as to invoke the Avignon Papacy, the period in the 1300s when the French Crown leveraged its military power to dominate the papal authority."
We reached out to the Pentagon seeking comment regarding these claims, and an official directed Snopes to a statement (archived) published on April 9 alongside a series of photos of the meeting with Cardinal Pierre (who retired in March 2026) reading:
Under Secretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby had a substantive, respectful, and professional meeting with Cardinal Pierre, the then-Papal Nuncio, and his team on January 22, 2026. During the cordial meeting, they discussed a range of topics, including issues of morality in foreign policy, the logic of the U.S. National Security Strategy, Europe, Africa, Latin America, and other topics. Cardinal Pierre expressed his appreciation for the outreach and both sides looked forward to continued open and respectful dialogue. In light of grossly false and distorted recent reporting, the Department of War repeats its statement: Recent reporting of the meeting is highly exaggerated and distorted. The meeting between Pentagon and Vatican officials was a respectful and reasonable discussion. We have nothing but the highest regard and welcome continued dialogue with the Holy See.
Brian Burch, the U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, posted on April 9 (archived) that he spoke with Cardinal Pierre, who Burch claimed "confirmed that recent media characterizations of his meeting with Undersecretary Colby are 'fabrications' that were 'just invented.'"
A spokesperson for U.S. Vice President JD Vance — a practicing Catholic who on April 8 denied knowledge of the incident — declined to speak to Snopes on the record.
We also reached out to the Vatican and to Ferraresi for comment and will update this story if we receive replies.